The present invention relates to an electric connector provided with a cover.
A conventional example of a connector provided with a cover is described in JP 10-112347. This connector comprises a housing and a cover. Terminal fittings are inserted into the housing, and electric wires which are fixed to the terminal fittings are guided outwards via an electric wire guiding face provided on a rear face of the housing. The cover is attached to the housing so as to cover the electric wire guiding face. The cover is block-like, one side thereof being joined to the housing by a hinge. The remaining three sides have resilient latching arms protruding therefrom. When the cover is attached to the housing, these latching arms engage with latching protrusions which protrude from the housing, these three arms latching the cover to the housing in an attached state.
In this prior connector, the cover is removed from the housing by bending the latching arms and separating them from the protrusions. However, it is difficult to bend all three arms at the same time. In order to deal with this problem a configuration is possible whereby the cover is a component separate from the housing and is not joined thereto by a hinge. In this configuration, the cover is inclined towards the housing with only a centre latching arm being in a bent state. A latching arm is located at each side of the centre arm. The inclining operation causes one of these two latching arms to separate from its protrusion. Then, the cover is inclined in the opposite direction. thereby separating the other arm from its protrusion. In this manner. all three latching arms are separated from their respective protrusions, and the cover can be removed from the housing.
It is desirable to decrease the rigidity of the centre latching arm so as to improve the ease with which it can be bent in a releasing direction. Furthermore, the rigidity of the side latching arms should be increased to deal with the case where an external force causes the electric wires to interfere with these side arms and thereby move them in the releasing direction.
However, in the prior example, all of the three latching arms are formed in a unified manner with the cover. As a result, if the rigidity of one of these arms is increased or decreased by changing the material used for the cover, the rigidity of the other arms also increases or decreases. Consequently, if the rigidity of the centre arm is decreased so as to improve its releasing operability, the side arms are more easily moved in the releasing direction when the electric wires interfere therewith. Conversely, if the rigidity of the side arms is increased so as to prevent them from being moved in the releasing direction by the electric wires, the releasing operability of the centre arm worsens.
The present invention has been developed after taking the above problem into consideration, and aims to present a connector provided with a cover wherein the latch release operation of the centre arm is improved, and wherein the side arms are not released from their latched state as a result of interference from the electric wires.
According to the invention there is provided an electrical connector comprising a housing having an exit face for wires. and a cover for said exit face, the housing and cover having three mutually engageable resilient latching means, said latching means comprising a centre latching arm and two side latching arms, characterised in that said centre latching arm is a cantilever, and each of said side latching arms are joined along one side edge to a respective portion of one of said housing and cover. the other side edge being free.
Such a cover/housing combination permits good flexibility of the centre arm, but allows the side arms to be rather stiff since they are not cantilevers.
In a preferred embodiment the side arms are provided on the cover and attached along one edge to a wall of the cover, substantially at right angles. This makes the side arms comparatively stiff.
The centre arm preferably latches within the cover, in an aperture of the wall thereof. The cover is preferably symmetrical and the side arms identical but in mirror image.
The centre arm may have an outwardly directed latching protrusion, whereas the side arms may have respective inwardly directed protrusions.